mountain of spices

the state of the onion address

2010-06-07T16:04:00.000-04:00

Important Notice:

6/7/2020:

We're back. I'm still trying to re-figure/ streamline the Spice Selections to make it all more sensible to you and feasible to us. Truth is, y'all just don't use the spices and seasonings as much as I do (despite that, as with all spice & seasoning ingredients, they are best if used within a six month period and not after). That's understandable, but it makes having an online business impractical, is all. Over the course of many months I've been considering ways to make the spices more appealing to first time as well as repeat buyers. I've sought to solve several problems with the product, including:

The tendency for the spice seasonings to clump - I've switched suppliers and am now using ingredients which are ground finer and have less tendency to clump. I've been satisfied with the results and I hope that you have as well.

Packaging: The metal tins I'm using are, at best, a compromise in order to ship the spices as well as make them appealing and functional. When I initially started selling spices back in 2005, I was using 4 oz. glass jars. People really like the jars over the tins, and while the tins cost more, they are easier to ship without worrying that you will end up with a package of seasoned glass shards on your end.

Packaging #2: I have been considering losing the tins in favor of simple, functional, utilitarian plastic bags. Why? I have a lot of plastic bags in stock intended for refills of spices, and that just doesn't happen. If I switch to using the plastic bags, I could probably increase the amount of spice seasoning per order while decreasing the cost of each item as well as shipping. How about that?

Packaging #3: Wouldn't ya know, now they are saying that plastic is EVIL and DOES NOT LIKE YOU or YOUR FAMILY. Oh, plastic - we lived with so many hopes for you that must now go unfulfilled. It was sweet while it lasted.

Scrapping the catalog: That's right. Another serious consideration I've had for some time now is to scrap all of my current product and sell only certain items. What I have been selling over the past several years would essentially be retired. "What will you replace it with?", you ask? Well, let me tell you - I've been thinking of starting a whole new line of extremely hot and spicy seasonings and bbq rubs, so that I can rename it THE BURN WARD. That's right. I don't joke about such things. We're talking (or rather mumbling, since we've been steadily searing off the nerves on our tongues) serious Scoville Units here. What is your vote?

Spice of the Month Club: While it is still a serious consideration, it has never generated enough interest to convince me to do it. Maybe. Drop me a line and tell me you'd support it if I made it available. No, not just you, I mean some of those other people out there who haven't piped up yet.

Gift Sets: Of course - there will always be gift sets, as well as sales, like the ever popular buy 2 get 1 free deal.

Cost: Oy... one could make a living, if only they'd let you - ya know what I mean? Over the past 12 to 18 months, cost just got weird, particularly because import/ export costs that bear on the availability of ingredients for the spices and seasonings. I try to keep that old carbon foot print as small as possible - I've even considered binding my carbon foot to a child's size 2 - but there are certain ingredients that just are not easily available in our area of Western Massachusetts. Things like fresh Kaffir Lime Leaf and Lemongrass which, the last time I had to purchase a bulk of each I was told that I would need to pre-order it as it comes from places with sunnier climates, yet it is also affected by state restrictions which prevent growing these plants in proximity of delicate citrus agricultural regions. So - I temporarily stopped making the Green Thai Curry, which needs a good amount of each to get the flavor perfect. I know - it makes me sad, too, not to have my Green Thai Curry.

So that's the short of the long on the matter. Write me and let me know what your vote is on any or all of the intertwining topics.

And thanks for your support, your patience and your friendship - I really do appreciate it!

Tamale Pie by any other name

2010-03-12T11:38:00.007-05:00

There is a scene in Waiting for Guffman where Parker Posey's character, Libby Mae Brown, is mulling over her career options - whether to head off into the great unknown world of acting or to stay at Dairy Queen where she will have a limited future. There is this quote by her about staying and maybe making some variation of the popular Blizzard treat. I can't remember or find the quote, otherwise I wouldn't be writing all of this as an introduction. Maybe I just imagined it.

Cooking is a lot like her dilemma. When it comes to creating a new Blizzard, well, how many new ones can you make? Do you go straight on and blaze new trail ways destined to go down in the annals of cooking while never looking back, stick with the familiar and trusted, or just hang it all up and go for take out? When it gets down to utilizing the common staples available in a region, what you get is a compromise between similarity and variety. Italian and Mexican food are great examples of this.

Don't get me wrong - I love Italian and Mexican food. As a kid growing up in Southern California, we had the best authentic Mexican food available, and it has always been on the top of my list of favorite cuisines. But with Mexican, you've got your meat, your rice, your beans, a sauce, some cheese, a tomato and onion salsa with some form of dough, either flour or corn, usually as a tortilla which serves as a large, edible eating utensil that also helps to keep all of the other stuff together in one place. My oldest sister, DonaRea, once made what I can only describe as "Mexican Manicotti" - manicotti shells stuffed with some sort of cheese filling and baked in a very spicy adobo sauce. The memory of that dish still lingers in my mind and occasionally I slip into what can only be diagnosed as a state of manicotti depression.

Italian is also right up there among favorite foods, only Italian as my mother made it, which, as Frank Zappa would say, isn't really Italian but the white people really like it. Who doesn't love spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna or macaroni and cheese? The only possible exception to this would be pizza, although pizza is really just zesty tomato sauce with some cheese and stuff on top of a very large unboiled noodle. After that, my favorite places to go out to dinner were either Chinese or Polynesian, which probably wasn't terribly authentic, but they had a variation of another stripe - jumbo shrimp or prawns with some sort of noodle or rice dish. (By the way, the theory has it that Marco Polo brought noodles back from China and bequeathed them to the citizens of Italy, who were eternally grateful. What, pray tell, did they previously use for a starch to bind it all? You can only do so much with risotto.) If you have ventured any distance into the soul of the culinary palate of a culture, you will soon find that they have a basic theme with lots of variations. It's the same, but different.

Last night's dinner was just such an example. We had a homemade first, an original variation on the Mexican dish which turned out to be a sort of nacho-lasagna-casserole thing. I'm thinking that it just might require a new sub-classification, like nachsagnarole. something like that. Except that sounds German. Any ideas?

In an effort to minimize time and energy expended on cooking dinner, I usually turn to the casserole for simplicity as well as comfort. Except it never really works out that way. Entropy quickly takes over and suddenly I'm using every pan and bowl in the house to cook and hold separate components of the whole meal structure, reusing them for the next stage as one becomes available. It becomes a 12 stage construction process and five hours later we have enough casserole for the rest of the month. In the end, I wasn't certain that the results would be all that impressive, but I have to say that it came out quite nicely, and perhaps that is why in Mexican cooking you have so many variations of the same thing.

Should you wish to try this yourself, be forewarned - it is going to take some commitment on your part. Maybe - just maybe - this one will have to go into the Double Wide Diner Cookbook.

Roasting Poblano Peppers (simulated)

I had actually tried to approach this with simplicity in mind, hence the use of canned ingredients as well as hamburger because, well, we were just in the mood for ground beef. (This is what we refer to as "going ghetto"). You can substitute fresh over canned, or any other meat in place of the hamburger. Chicken or pork would be really nice. For the vegetarians - yes, of course you can use vegetables instead. Either way, whether you prefer vegetables or something other than hamburger, you're on your own.

Here it is: Nachsagnarole, or the Nacho-Lasagna-Casserole thing.

Ingredients are for a casserole cooked in a 13" x 9" dish.

1 can of chunked tomatoes, seasoned if preferred
1 can of black beans, rinsed if preferred
1/2 to 1 cup of green olives, diced
12 to 18 tortillas, corn or flour, 8" to 10" in size (I used both)
1 onion, sliced thin
4 poblano peppers, fire roasted, cleaned and sliced thin (more on that soon)
1 1/2 to 2 lbs hamburger
1 to 1 1/2 cups cream - light or heavy, it's your choice. I used light
1 cup monterey jack cheese, grated
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 bunch cilantro, cleaned and chopped well Approximately 2 cups or more if you prefer
Jalapeno peppers, de-seeded and diced. I used four very small pickled ones.
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of Mexican Sazón, whether my own from Etsy, from Goya or elsewhere.
Salt and Pepper to taste

Lightly coat the whole poblano peppers with olive oil and place them directly on the open fire of your stove top. Turn them occasionally to insure that they get roasted equally all over. You can roast them in the oven, but I find it easier to do it over the stove top. Place them in a container, cover it and let them sit for 40 t0 60 minutes. The heat will make the peppers sweat, allowing the charred skin to come off easily. Remove the charred skin thoroughly, unless you prefer a bit of char left on. It won't hurt anything. If you need to, wash the char off with a small amount of water. Too much water will remove the flavor from the pepper. Cut the peppers length wise and remove the seeds and the top stem, then slice them into thin strips.

Making the sauce:

This is a variation of a recipe called Creamy Rajas, which I think I originally found in The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julie Rosso and Sheila Lukins, but I could be wrong about that.

Cut the whole onion into thin strips. Heat a large pan or skillet to medium high with a tablespoon of olive oil, Add the onion strips and stir, cooking them until they are caramelized. Add the poblano strips, cream, cilantro, and salt and pepper, stirring to mix them all together. Bring the mix to just under boiling, add both cups of cheese and turn off the heat.

Cook the hamburger in a skillet at medium to high heat with a tablespoon of olive oil. Season the meat with Sazón, cilantro and salt and pepper. While browning the meat, break it up into smaller chunks with a spatula. If you prefer, strain the grease from the meat.

Now begin to build your casserole.

Cut six tortillas in half. In your 13" x 9" dish, layer them with the edges lined flush with the dish edges and place one whole tortilla to cover that gaping hole in the middle. Put half a can of the tomato chunks evenly over the tortillas, then a layer of meat, then half the can of beans and half of the olives evenly across the meat. Press the layers down and then add half of the poblano and onion cheese sauce. Repeat again except skip the cheese sauce. Place the final layer of tortillas over the top. You may have to use more tortillas as the top layer will be larger than the bottom layer. Press the ingredients down, add the diced jalapenos into the remaining cheese sauce and spread evenly over the top.

According to my recipe process, you should have 1 13" x 9" casserole with no remaining left overs. If you have any left over, do something with it. Sneak it into the built layers of the casserole or make a mini one.

When you are ready to bake it, cover it with aluminum foil and place in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees. Since the casserole is already "cooked", it really just needs to be heated thoroughly. Bake for approximately 30 to 40 minutes.

Cut into portions and serve with salsa, sliced avocado and a dollop of sour cream. Share with someone you love.

Bon Appétit!

Artichoke Hearts

2010-01-11T19:27:00.001-05:00

My wonderful wife, Cheryl, made these artichoke hearts earlier in the week (you can see a picture of it HERE, as well as find the recipe. I tried to link the image but ran into insurrmountable problems... ) We thought that we had panko flakes on hand for the recipe but discovered that what we had available was tempura batter, which still worked. It's a great, easy to make treat as an appetizer; we had it as a side with chicken. Plus, you bake them rather than deep frying them, so it's a bit more of a guilt free & healthy snack. Give it a try - I think you will love them, too!

Here is the recipe from the page where she found them, but you Really must go and look at the picture first, so that you will get the full anticipatory effect - and don't forget the Panko crumbs.Ciao!

Artichoke Hearts

Open bag of frozen artichoke hearts and add the juice of half a lemon (if it's juicy, a whole one if it's not).

In a bowl, beat one egg with a tbs of water

In a large zip bag mix
1/2 c of flour
1/2 c of breadcrubs (I used panko)
1/4 c of shredded (not grated) parmesan or romano cheese
1 tbs of dried oregano
S&P to taste

Coat hearts in egg mixture then drop in bag of breading and shake to coat.

Pour out in a single layer on baking pan, drizzle with plenty of olive oil and bake at 450 for about 20 mins or until golden brown, turning halfway through.

I serve with a dipping sauce of 1/4 c of unflavored greek style yogurt and about
2 tsp of sriracha or similar hot sauce.

Korma Chameleon

2010-01-11T12:54:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to perfect a recipe derived from one for Korma Curry from The Home Book of Indian Cookery by Sipra Das Gupta. I realize that this probably sounds counterintuitive to most people, since a recipe is supposed to be a fairly reliable blueprint for making a great, if not perfect, meal. I like to experiment, so for me, a recipe is more of a template, making the results to be less predictable than most people would prefer. leaving you open to either a delightful Happy Accident or a quick bail out from the local fast food restaurant.

I've had this book for at least ten years, ever since I found it and several others at Shalimar of India in Cambridge, MA. - a favorite place of mine that has great take out & is fun to go to just to explore the sundries available -and I use the book mainly as a reference guide. I tried making Korma with Chicken and Cashews twice in the past week with mixed results, but for your sake I'll post the version of the recipe that worked best.

Here is the original recipe:

Korma Curry

2 lb. leg of lamb

4 onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons grated ginger

3 cloves garlic, grated

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons ghee

4 tablespoons oil

5 tablespoons yogurt

1/2 cup peas

2 small turnips

1 1/2 cups water

I made many changes and substitutions here. Remember - to me it is just a template to draw from. First, while the recipe called for two pounds of lamb, I substituted chicken, and used only 1/2 to 1 pound of it. You could easily substitute that with vegetables, Second, no turnips. Never been very big on turnips and this was no place to begin trying. I also didn't use peas, not because I don't like them, we just didn't have any on hand. Third, since I don't keep ghee around for cooking, I used butter. It just so happens that we got a pound of Irish butter over the holidays, so I used that. The other substitutions are listed in the recipe. I scaled back the amounts to make up a half portion or smaller & ended up with this:

Korma Chicken with Cashews

1 lb. chicken (I used thighs)

1/2 cup cashews, toasted & chopped

1 - 2 onions, chopped

1 teaspoon powdered ginger (use fresh grated if you have it)

3 cloves garlic, diced

2 - 3 teaspoons Tandoori Spice Blend

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon fenugreek powder

2 teaspoons sugar

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup water

a pinch of aleppo pepper

salt and pepper to taste

I mixed the ingredients and put it in a small Pyrex baking dish with the chicken on top, covered it with foil and baked it, starting on 400 for about 10 minutes and then turning it down to between 250 to 350 while I prepared side dishes, which in this case were rice and spinach. You don't want to leave it on a high temperature for too long - only to get it hot and raise the internal temperature of the meat. Likewise, once it has heated up, you want to cook it at a standard temperature for 15 to 20 minutes, ensuring that it has cooked thoroughly and isn't too pink or under cooked inside. Baking will allow you to do something else in the meantime. Once the meat has cooked, it should be tender enough to cut with a fork.

At the risk of possibly repeating myself, here is a very simple recipe for rice that I like to use:

1 cup of jasmine rice

1 can of vegetable stock or chicken broth

1/4 to 2 cups of water

1 tablespoon of butter or olive oil

a pinch of salt

Stock/ broth cans often come in anywhere between 14 to 15 oz sizes, just shy of the two cup measure of liquid that is standard for most rice recipes. Who knows why. It's another mystery that ranks up with the 12 to a pack hot dogs vs the 8 to a pack hot dog buns, or why there is always a portion of three pieces of sushi among an array of sets of two, four or six.

Follow the usual procedure of bringing the liquid to a boil, adding the rice, stir, lower the heat to medium low and cover, cooking until the liquid has evaporated and you have - rice!

You can add other stuff such as chopped onions, diced garlic or sliced mushrooms. Go crazy - it's your dinner, after all!

For the spinach, I usually just steam it until it has just begun to wilt.

Bon Appétit!

Did you know?

2009-12-15T13:33:00.000-05:00

We do gift wrapping & we also sell gift sets! That's right - no kidding!

If you are looking to send that special chef or gourmand the perfect gift for cooking & grilling & catering, why not get them a a selection of Spices and Seasonings for Christmas?

We'll wrap them up nicely and - if that isn't enough - we'll enclose a card telling them how much they are loved by you!

Gift boxes can be bartered - I mean, arranged - for purchase according to your needs, usually at an affordable price. While gift sets aren't listed on the etsy site, contact me and we'll work it out.

Just take a look at these photos of recent Christmas gift packages:

Individually wrapped

as a Gift Set

Sorry - decorative retro tablecloth is not included.

Drop me a line saying "How Can I Get My Purchase Wrapped As A Gift Or A Set", and I'll tell you what we can do. But hurry - Christmas is just around the corner!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Seasoned Greetings!

How to Make Oven Porcupine Meatballs

2009-11-30T17:46:00.003-05:00

There is something about classic Americana cuisine that is eternally endearing. The quaint and curious recipes from those retro cookbooks that we collect as a form of amusement always seem to endure trends and live on to claim the next generation of gourmands to pass the plate in the hopes of receiving something, well, interesting and memorable as well as nourishing, if only to that part of the psyche that seeks out the more sedentary and gastronomical thrills that are only to be found through the oven mitts of a homemade meal. We've all seen them come and go - remember something called "California Cuisine"? - while the more generic and accessible foodstuffs make their way regularly to our common placematts every evening and are honored as stars at our wedding receptions and Sunday church socials. Sure, we may read Bon Appétit and Gourmet magazine as if they were the equivalent of Hugh Hefner's Playboy (and the equivalent of that would be what? Julia Child in a prosciutto négligée? Emeril wearing an actual cod piece?), but when the plastic forks clash against the chinnette in the fury of feast and battle, what we really crave is a hearty mound of mayo laden potato salad and a 7 x 5 x 4 inch slab of prefabricated meatloaf stuff. Life is a picnic, after all.

So comes forth the discovery of this delicacy, Oven Porcupine Meatballs, which seems to have been cribbed directly from a long lost community recipe book published by a church parish in the 1950's. But why are we wasting our time analyzing it like it is some sort of Rosetta Stone to the culinary branch of anthropology? Food, after all, is for eating and enjoying, not merely probing, even if we must need to dissect it before we can eat it. Enjoy.

Oven Porcupine Meatballs
(from wikiHow: The How-to Manual That You Can Edit)
Should you find the recipe steps too labor intensive to follow, or if you would like to just watch some internet video for a while to prepare, the page includes that for you as well.

Don't they look freakin' awesome?

"Here's another old-fashioned recipe that is inexpensive and tasty to make. Lean ground beef, rice, tomato sauce and seasonings are used to create this homey meal. The white rice gives the meatballs a spiky appearance, hence the name!"

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 cup uncooked white rice (regular rice)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
15 ounces tomato sauce, 1 large can
1 can beef broth
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Steps
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix meat, rice, 1/2 cup water, the onion, salt, garlic powder and pepper.
Shape mixture by rounded tablespoonfuls into balls.
Place meatballs into 8 x 8" baking dish.
Stir together remaining ingredients; pour over meatballs.
Cover. Bake 45 minutes.
Uncover and bake 15 minutes

Things You'll Need
Measuring cups and spoons
8 x 8-inch baking dish
Can opener
Knives
Cutting board

2009-11-21T21:27:00.003-05:00

The Gleaning of Autumn's Harvest

2009-10-07T12:54:00.022-04:00

It's warm here in our patch of New England. Despite the blustery campaign of the wind outside and some clouds in the distance threatening to quash all prospects of fair weather, it's warm enough to open the windows, put on shorts and dally with dreams of one final sumptuous barbeque. Weather here comes with a moderate warning at all times. As Mark Twain is reputed to have said, and as we New Englander's live by as a sort of unofficial motto, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute".

We had rain the night before, with the blustery-verging-on-storm type of wind rattling the vinyl siding and the window panes that are in dire need of re-caulking, which made the entire cottage sound like a sub-bass kazoo. Just as the warm weather is inviting, encouraging us to take one more bike ride or foothill hike, the mild rain storms are equally comforting, calling us to set still and read or reflect and write in journals. There is a sense of rightness about the world and our lives lingering in both. After the rain I went out to the garden to seek out tomatoes and tomatillos for dinner plans. The plants had taken on a low leaning crookedness to their once tall and vigorous stature, looking like undisciplined bonsai plants. Although we're at the end of harvest season for tomatoes and tomatillos, they either haven't gotten the memo or are ignoring it altogether. The tomatillos still have several dozen husks in differing stages of development, and every other day I come back with a container of fruit.

We are preparing for the winter by stocking up with containers of tomatoes and tomatillos, which have taken up a good portion of the freezer. Both are high on our list of favorite food staples. That's good. We'll be having plenty of it, and frequently. It gives you a little more insight into why there are so many variations of the same thing in Italian and Mexican food.

This past week Cheryl made a Sweet Potato Quesadilla from a recipe she found in Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle". The recipe is pretty simple, and I'll include it here, but we recommend that you get the book as well. It is a great resource for anyone interested in living simply by using what you grow or what is available locally and in season. Cheryl followed the recipe as written, except she substituted Saint-André cheese for the brie. The results were a delicious version of the traditional quesadilla which we'll be having again.

Here is the recipe, which I borrowed from "A Foodie's Guide to Getting Through the Year":

Sweet Potato Quesadillas

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes
4 flour tortillas

1/2 onion
4 oz Brie or other medium soft cheese

1 clove garlic
2-3 leaves Swiss chard (or other greens)

1 Tbsp oregano

1 Tbsp basil

1 tsp cumin

Chile powder to taste

Olive oil for saute

Cut sweet potatoes into chunks, cook in steamer basket or microwave until soft, then mash.
Chop and saute garlic and onion in a large skillet. Add spices and sweet potato and mix well, adding a little water if it's too sticky. Turn burner very low to keep warm without burning.
Preheat oven to 400.
Oil a large baking sheet, spread tortillas on it to lightly oil one side, then spread filling on half of each.
Top with slices of Brie and shredded chard, then fold tortillas to close (oiled side out). Bake until browned and crisp (about 15 minutes); cute into wedges for serving.

I highly recommend using my recipe for Roasted Tomatillo Salsa with the quesadillas. Especially if you happen to have more tomatillos than you know what to do with.

Be sure to share some with a friend.

Bon Appétit!

2009-10-02T16:39:00.001-04:00

Fresh homemade spices for sale including Green Thai Curry, Moroccan Tajine & Tandoori Spice Blend at
http://ping.fm/qYSVi

What can you do with a salted lassi?

2009-09-22T12:30:00.006-04:00

As sung to the tune of "What shall we do with a drunken sailor", because I like sea shanties & I'm trying too hard to make this pun work.

We love lassis, that's all there is to it. Salted, unsalted, with mangos or without, we usually have one with our lunch. Call it a smoothie if you want, but lassi is much more fun to say. Lassi, come home!

While there is much debate over where the lassi originated - Southern India vs. Northern India, depression era Yorkshire England vs. depression era Midwest America (for those of you who think I am talking about the novel/movie/television series) the list of ingredients can be even more confusing. We won't go there, but to boil it all down it seems that a lassi requires at least two ingredients: yogurt and some sort of Indian spice, generally cumin. Maybe honey or sugar. That's really up to you.

All this just to say that I improvised my own lassi the other day using the Tandoori Spice Blend, and it is very, very simple to make.

Needed:

1 Blender
1 - 1/2 cups of plain yogurt
1 banana
1/2 cup mango chunks
1/2 cup pineapple
1 Tb. honey
1/2 - 1 tsp. Tandoori Spice Blend
2 pint glasses

No salt (but you can use a pinch if you care to).
Neither shaken nor stirred but pulverized into a thick malted milkshake consistency.

That's it. The question still remains: What can you do with a salted lassi?

Bon Appétit!

Tamale, Tamale,

2009-09-15T15:39:00.013-04:00

I love you, Tamale -
you're only a day away...

C'mon - do you think it is easy to come up with a witty headline every time I write? After all, I'm not Barbara Mikkelson of Snopes.com, who seems to have an endless inspiration for nifty one line zingers.

I've been meaning to post a step by step illustration of tamale making for some time now, but these things just tend to slip away so easily. This is actually a repeat post from good golly tamales, but laid out in picture book fashion for those of us who don't like reading. So, without further, ahem, a-dough, here we go...

You'll need approximately 2-3 corn husks for each tamale.

Soak the Corn Husks over night in water, then drain in a colander. Leave them moist so that they remain pliable to fold.

Using a clean flat surface - a counter top in your kitchen is perfect, but make sure it is at a comfortable height for you - lay out two or three good sized corn husks:

Layer them one half way over the other, making sure there is enough room to spread out approximately 1/4 cup of dough into a 4" x 7" (approximate) rectangle.

Place 1/4 cup of dough and spread it with a spatula, a fork, your fingers - whatever you have handy - until it makes a 4" x 7" rectangle with the dough.

Place 1/2 to 2 Tbs. of filling lengthwise in the center, leaving a border of dough around it.

Gently fold the sides of the corn husks up so that the dough covers the filling.

I found that it worked best to turn the sides up first to form the shape of the tamale, then wrap one side of the corn husk over first, then the other side:

Next fold the ends over and then lay the tamale down upon the folded sides.

You can leave them that way if you prefer - the weight of the tamale should be enough to hold it closed in place while you cook them - but the traditional way is to tie them like a package using string or thin strips of corn husk.

Repeat each step four to eighty four times as needed.

Don't worry if you have problems folding them into a rectangular package shape. The dough should mold to the form of the corn husk as you fold it into place. If they come out on the small side, that's OK also - you'll just have to serve extra.

Be sure to share some with a friend.

Bon Appétit!

Things we like

2009-09-15T15:19:00.003-04:00

of which there are very many, but Mukhwas Sada Bahar, which you will find at the entrance of any Indian restaurant, is among those at the top of our list. Intended to be an after dinner digestive and breath freshener they are, quite simply, sugar coated fennel seed and they are delicious. I recently had to make a run to my local ethnic supermarkets for ingredients to make spices with and I made sure we bought a bag of it, and its a bargain at $1.89 for seven ounces. We disregard the traditional protocol and eat them in small amounts. May our breathes always be fresh and our digestions always on tract...

2009-08-17T09:15:00.001-04:00

Attention knitters: my wife has a pattern featured in Twist Collective magazine! :
http://ping.fm/MjUOL

2009-08-02T16:33:00.001-04:00

is looking people who would like to share their favorite stories and folktales from around the world. What are some of your favorites?

A Late Brunch Between Neighboring Worlds

2009-07-24T13:49:00.009-04:00

Due to my new position as a freelance correspondent for the Belchertown Sentinel, the local newspaper, our landlord/ neighbor lent me this great book, "Make Hay While The Sun Shines: Farms, Forests and People of the North Quabbin", by Allen Young, a journalist who lives in the area and has been writing about the local residents of North-West Massachusetts since 1973. In his book he covers the "back to nature" movement that began in the early seventies, stemming from the traditional way of farming and living off the land that has been a common and popular mainstay of New England since we stumbled and tripped upon the shores of the region.

In the third chapter of the book he writes about the Diemand Egg Farm in Wendall, which is still producing eggs and can be bought in local stores here. The next time I went shopping I specifically sought out their eggs so we can try them at home, and as a fitting tribute to farmer and author alike, I made the Finnish Pancakes from the recipe provided at the end of the chapter. It is really rich and filling, but it is also really easy to make, so it just might become a regular brunch item here.

Finnish Pancakes

(from the Massachusetts Poultry Association)

Six large eggs
1 quart milk
1/4 lb. butter
1 cup flour
4-5 Tb. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Melt and brown the butter in a 12" x 16" pan.

Beat the eggs and milk together, then add the sugar, salt and flour, mixing it in until well blended and without any lumps. Pour the mixture into the baking dish and bake in a pre-heated oven at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and firmly set.

The "pancakes" will have the consistency of custard (or a flan) with a slight crust.

I didn't follow the recipe but still got fair results. Since we have some wonderful wild blueberries that are grown in our neighborhood, I added 1 cup of them into the batter. We are also going away for the weekend and we had a pint of heavy cream on hand, so I used that for half of the milk amount. I also added a couple drops of vanilla extract. The dish needed to bake for approximately 10 minutes more than the recipe recommended, probably because of the blueberries and the cream, and it came out with the consistency of bread pudding.

Bon appétit!

2009-07-23T10:33:00.001-04:00

Get your original spice and seasoning blends for summer grilling at http://emburke.etsy.com

2009-07-23T10:27:00.001-04:00

My wonderful wife is participating in the Emmaus, Inc. Cycle for Shelter, this Sunday, July 26th. Please help support her at: http://ping.fm/zrtBN

Cheryl be Jammin'

2009-07-01T13:38:00.021-04:00

Well, not really, but "Cheryl be Jelly" might give off the wrong impression. Be Jellin'? Ok. Sure.

This past Saturday we went to Sapowsky's Farm in Granby (they apparently don't have a web site, so it's our secret spot) and picked a few strawberries. Ok. We picked 12 pounds, because Cheryl currently is wild about anything and everything strawberry. Like a kid with a fever, she is. If she starts wanting to watch reruns of the Strawberry Shortcake cartoons, I don't know what I'm going to do. The delicious results are that we now have lots and lots of strawberries with a variety of possible concoctions to be made from them. She made a great dessert with strawberries and custard and last night she made jam. Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:

Cheryl always finds the very best

Fresh Strawberries!
I got to help

Cheryl with her haul

Strawberries IN YOUR FACE!

Cheryl's cupboard of jam. I didn't help with this part.

Jam & jam & more jam!

I realize that we should have taken photos of Cheryl while she was making her jam, but we spaced off there. Maybe next time. We tried the jam this morning with some muffins and we are happy to report that it is amazingly delicious!

2009-06-20T10:28:00.001-04:00

day of shooting photos in the community for newspaper articles

what's for dinner?

2009-05-29T09:44:00.011-04:00

Only because I haven't posted in a long, long time & I don't want the one person who follows my blog religiously to feel abandoned - and because I'm using this as a reasonably plausible excuse to warm up by writing here rather than working on several other articles - I'm going to write about our dinner last night. If I can wake up or get enough coffee in my system to write coherent sentences with words that at least phonetically resemble the ones I'm trying to use. Honestly, I'm stumbling through this paragraph as I try to type what has already fleetingly passed through my drowsy head, but there is hope - I haven't had to resort to using the spell check so far. Hooray for small accomplishments and double hooray for more coffee!

We are starting to reap the first of the local seasonal produce here, which includes rhubarb and asparagus. The asparagus grows so abundantly here that they call it "Hadley Grass", presumably after the prominent farming township that gets to tag it's name and notoriety with the crop. If you like asparagus, you will love it even more when it comes fresh from the local fields. It really can't be beat, and for a very brief period Hadley goes into an orgy-istic asparagus frenzy, snapping up the fresh stalks and putting them into everything, including ICE CREAM. I kid you not. While I have yet to try it, they get points for culinary daring. Maybe someday this season I'll give it a try.

While asparagus does play a role in this post, I'm going to pass over it for a moment and start with dessert first.

Last night Cheryl made an incredible Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, and while strawberries aren't quite in season here, we were able to get some rhubarb fresh from the garden patch next to the farm. Since she made it, I don't have the recipe sitting on the top of my head at the moment, but I might be able to procure it for another post. All the better reason for you to come and visit so you can enjoy Cheryl's Strawberry Rhubarb pie or any of her other amazing desserts first hand.

For dinner I made a simple pasta with a garlic cream sauce and broiled asparagus. Here, approximately, are the recipes. For those of you joining me for the first time, be forewarned - I don't use measurements when I cook, and while I try to recreate a recipe with as much practical accuracy as possible, it is still an approximate. It works for me, which is why I'll share it, but you might get different results. That's the fun and beauty of improvisation. I recommend that you try out any recipe on yourself before using it for that great big dinner party you have having this weekend.

Garlic Cream Sauce

6 Tablespoons of Butter
5 - 6 fresh Garlic cloves, minced
1/4 fresh Onion, minced
1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh Sage, chiffonade
1 - 2 teaspoons Marjoram
1 pint of Heavy Cream
Salt & Pepper to taste

1 lb of pasta (we used linguine)

Prepare the pasta as instructed by the directions on the box, which usually involves plenty of water, some salt and a couple of teaspoons of olive oil. Bring the water, salt and olive oil to a boil and then put your pasta in it, being careful to make sure the pasta doesn't stick and clump together. Cook for about 5 to seven minutes until al dente or longer if you prefer.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan and then add the garlic and onion and let cook thoroughly. Add the cream, sage, marjoram and your salt and pepper. Cook it on medium to high heat until it begins to rise and thicken, making sure that it doesn't boil over. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer, stirring occasionally, while the rest of your meal cooks.

This amount made enough for four meals. We are always big on leftovers for lunch.

Braised Asparagus

1/4 to 1/2 Cups Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Sesame Seed Oil
1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
1 - 2 teaspoons Sugar
Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix well.

Fire up your broiler. Take one pound of fresh asparagus & remove the woody stems by gently bending them. They will break at about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way from the bottom. Discard the bottoms. Lay the asparagus out on a baking sheet and evenly brush the marinade over them. You might want to leave a little in case you want to brush them again about half way through braising. Cook them in your broiler for about 3 - 4 minutes, rotating them at least once. You want to braise them slightly so that the are tender but still firm.

Serve with you pasta, either on top or on the side.

For dessert, get your spouse, your significant other or personal assistant to make you a really nice Strawberry Rhubarb pie. For a nominal fee, Cheryl just might be up for making it for you. Give her a call.

Bon Appétit!

Who wants Crack?

2009-04-13T10:10:00.012-04:00

It's come to this: my wife makes crack, and now we are all addicted. What's worse, yesterday we went to a new church for Easter services, one that our friends Baird and Carol attend, and they invited us to share Easter dinner with their family and the pastor of their church. What did Cheryl do to contribute to the meal to celebrate our freedom from bondage and oppression? She whipped up a fresh batch of crack. All I had was to offer was a hard boiled goose egg. So much for the Living Waters program. With crack you just can't compete.

No, I don't mean crack or gimcrack or wisecrack or crack crack or any of the other superfluous associations you might come up with. This is, after all, a food and cooking blog, albeit one with a rather hazy objective at times, so you are forgiven any misunderstandings you may have. What she made was something called Chocolate Caramel Crack(ers), which are simply called Crack; you can find here at Smitten Kitchen. It's a fairly simple recipe although quite labor extensive for what you get from it - just like crack, I would assume - but well worth your trouble. It would make a nice featurette for the Double Wide Diner. Yes, I'm including it here for your convenience, but do check out the recipes found at Smitten Kitchen. If Cheryl reads it, well, it's got to be pretty good, and anytime you can combine kitchen with smitten or smite, then you are definitely onto something promising. She had to use saltine crackers in place of matzo because, with it being Easter and Passover weekend, we couldn't find any at our local Stop and Shop.

There is no truth to the rumor that the pastor is now addicted and will be using them at their communion services.

Chocolate Caramel Crack(ers)

4 to 6 sheets matzo or approximately 40 Saltine crackers or crackers of your choice
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into a few large pieces
1 cup packed light brown sugar
A big pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semi- or bittersweet chocolate chips (or chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate)
1 cup toasted chopped almonds, pecans, walnuts or a nut of your choice (optional)
Extra sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 11-by-17-inch baking sheet completely with foil, and then line the base of the foil with parchment paper, cut to fit.

Line the bottom of the baking sheet with matzo or crackers, covering all parts. [If using matzo, you'll need to break pieces to fit any extra spaces, which will be annoying because despite being perforated, it does not actually break in straight lines. I have some luck pressing a serrated knife straight down along a section between perforations, if that (hopefully) makes sense.]

In a medium heavy-duty saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together, and stir it over medium heat until it begins to boil. Once it has begun boiling, let it bubble for three more minutes, stirring it well. It will thicken a bit as it cooks. Remove from the heat and add the salt and vanilla, and then quickly pour it over the matzo or crackers. You’ll want to spread it quickly, as it will begin to set as soon as it is poured.

Bake the caramel-covered crackers for 15 minutes, watching carefully as it will bubble and the corners might darken too quickly and/or burn. You can reduce the heat if you see this happening.

Remove from oven and immediately cover with chocolate chips. Let stand five minutes, and then spread them evenly across the caramel. An offset spatula works great here. If you’re using them, sprinkle the chocolate with toasted chopped nuts and/or sea salt. (The sea salt is great on matzo. On Saltines, it’s really not necessary.)

Once completely cool — I sometimes speed this process up in the fridge, impatient as should be expected in the face of caramel crack(ers) — break it into pieces and store it in a container. It should keep for a week but I’ve never seen it last that long.

Variations:

Since I'm a big fan of Graham Crackers, I would substitute them for the matzo or saltines. To me, that just seems to make more sense than saltines. Cheryl used pecans but almonds would work really well, and you might even consider using almond extract instead of vanilla. For bonus points, add some Amaretto and Kahlua. Heck, since we are so close to making S'mores at this point, why not put some marshmallows on top and braise them. Better still, lightly coat them in Amaretto and Kahlua and then ignite them.

Now we're talking some serious crack.

Greek Seasoned Pita Chips

2009-04-13T09:28:00.004-04:00

We were out having lunch with our friend Leighann and she shared with me how she had made Pita Chips using the Greek Seasoning. It was such a simple recipe and smart idea that I had completely overlooked the possibility of making these myself.

I'm winging this recipe, as I'm writing it off the top of my head using how I would approach it, so you may want to tweak it a bit or find an actual recipe for making pita chips.

12 Pita Bread pockets
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1 - 2 Tablespoons of Greek Seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Cut each pita pocket in half along the circumference so you have two thin pieces,
then cut them into 8 triangles.
Place triangles on lined cookie sheet.
Brush each triangle with oil mixture.
Sprinkle a moderate amount of Greek Seasoning over each piece.
To get an even layer of seasoning, I use a small hand held strainer to sift the seasoning with.
Bake in the oven for about 6 to 7 minutes until lightly browned and crispy.
Keep an eye on them as they can burn easily.

Serve with your favorite dip or with the Tzatziki recipe included with Greek Gyros.

Some variations:

Try using garlic infused olive oil.
Serve them with Greek Gyros.
Add fresh marjoram or Zatar to the seasoning.
Try topping it with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or your own favorite cheese.

Please thank Leighann.

Thanks, Leighann!

can you top this?

2009-04-03T09:02:00.010-04:00

While I don't usually dream about food and I rarely remember much detail from my dreams, last night I dreamt that I made a pizza with 26 toppings. I only remember this detail because the toppings were alphabetical and apparently individual, although not precisely in order. The pizza I made was extremely long and folded over upon itself, and when someone requested a piece with artichoke hearts, I had to unfold it about half way to get it for them. So, as a rather simple exercise to help wake myself up (and prepare for lunch), I'm making an alphabetical list of pizza toppings just for fun. I imagne that much of it is going to be pretty obvious - A is Anchovies, etc. - but that is beside the point because, well, there really isn't any point to it to begin with.

Please join me and share what you would put on your pizza. In order to make it a little harder, I suggest that it might have a theme to it, so that the toppings don't clash and become something of a gastronomical gross out contest. Mine is going to have a Greek Gyro theme to it.

artichoke hearts
bacon
cheese
dolmathes (ok, I'm cheating here by considering slicing them into bite size pieces)
eggplant
fennel
garlic
hearts of palm
i
jicama
kalamata olives
lamb
mushrooms
n
onions
peppers
q
radicchio
soprasetta
tomatoes
u
v
water cress
x
yogurt
zucchini

I can't seem to come up with the remaining letters, unless I try items that don't really compliment the others, such as quince, or pharmaceuticals, like Xanax. I'm probably just overlooking the obvious. Any suggestions out there?

Do Try This At Home: Home Made Cheese

2009-02-21T09:28:00.011-05:00

Following the last post on using our new Cheese Making kit, I'm offering up this test recipe for fresh home made cheese. It's a fairly simple recipe and it helps me meet my quota - at this point long over-due - of writing recipes that use my spice & seasoning blends.

Here is the recipe as posted on The New England Cheese Making Supply Company.

Queso Blanco

Ingredients:

1 gallon of milk
1/4 cup of vinegar (this may be cider, grain, or herbal vinegar.)

Heat the milk to 195 degrees F. Stirring often to keep from scorching. When the milk is at 195 degrees F., stir in the vinegar Turn the heat off and let the hot milk set for 5 minutes. The milk will quickly coagulate into curds (solid white) and whey (a clear green liquid.)

Line a colander with fine cheesecloth and pour the curds and whey into the colander. Hang the bag of curd to drain for one hour or until it reaches your desired consistency. Remove the cheese from the cloth. It will be a solid mass of curd and may be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator until ready for use. One gallon of milk will produce up to 1.5 lbs of cheese.

Queso Blanco may be cut into 1/2 inch cubes and used in a variety of dishes. It is uniquely suited for cooking because it will not melt. In fact, it is the only cheese which can be deep fried without melting. Added to such dishes as spaghetti, soup or Chinese stir fried vegetables, the cheese will take on the flavor of the surrounding food. By itself the cheese has a very mild and distinctly sweet taste.

I followed the recipe as written above, except I made some changes. To start with, I used fresh raw milk, for the vinegar I used 1/4 cup of pear infused balsamic vinegar that we have on hand. While cooking it I added:

1 - 1 2/2 tablespoons salt (as mentioned, the cheese needs salt!)
1 - 2 tablespoons green thai spice blend
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon urfa pepper

That's it. It takes about half an hour to make and is ready to eat as soon as it is drained, but you may want to wait a while. We found that draining the whey so that it is firm gives it a better consistency for eating, and that chilled cheese is preferable over warm cheese.

Bon appétit!

Curd your Enthusiasm

2009-02-15T13:52:00.016-05:00

For Christmas I received a cheese making Kit from, Alex, my sister-in-law, which was purchased locally through The New England Cheese Making Supply Company. It's proving to be a very handy and economical thing to have, even if it takes a few hours of preparation. We love cheese and probably spend far too much money on it, so being able to make it myself is going to be a plus. I first tested it out about three weeks ago, and boy o boy, did we have lots of cheese on hand! Being that it is made fresh, and you can get approximately a pound from each batch, and that it lasts roughly a couple of weeks, you need to really like cheese and have the creative ability to find plenty of uses for it, which includes sharing it with others.

My first batch was a bit bland for my taste. I followed the directions, which is probably my first mistake, but I wanted to be able to track down where things went awry, should that happen to be the case. My big mistake? Following directions.

I made three separate batches. The first was a very simple plain cheese which is made with fresh raw milk and lemon juice. That's pretty much it. We found raw milk at Cook Farm for $5.00 per gallon, which is a great deal considering that you'll get at least a pound from it.

Pour the gallon of fresh raw milk into a large, clean pot and gradually bring the temperature up to 165 degrees while stirring it. You can bring the temperature up 190 to help it coagulate better. Either way, make sure that stir it frequently and don't scorch it in the process. When it reaches temperature, slowly add the juice of 2 - 3 whole lemons, stirring to fully incorporate it into the milk. Remove from heat and let it set for 15 - 20 minutes. The curds should begin to separate from the whey.

Line a colander with cheesecloth and pour the curds and whey into it. The whey will strain through the cloth leaving the curds. You can save the whey and use it to make bread with.

Fresh curds

Press the curds into the cheesecloth, wrap them tightly into a nice travel bag and tie the top off with some strong string.

Then hang it somewhere to drain, preferably over the sink or some place where you won't mind getting freshly cooked milk liquid.

I used a book press to form the cheese into a bowl shape.

Just like this.

This is what it looks like after it is finished.

There you have it. It is ready for eating or for storing. It will need salt. I'm learning that you can add that in while it is cooking, mix it into the fresh cheese as you are straining it or add it later, before putting it into a container for storage. Either way, I definitely recommend giving it some salt.